Behaviour

I must say that I am so embarresed. A thing that happend in the subway this weekend really got me thinking of my own behaviour and all of us foreigners. In Korea people don’t really like foreigners, especially not older people, and if someone, the foreigenrs has to show a lot of respect and go by the rules. This is something you should keep in mind wherever you are in the world. 

Here is the situation:

Me and a few friends were going back with the subway from our field trip. All of us felt tired and had a hangover. Since we didn't have enough of energy to keep any loud conversations, we decided to be quiet and spoke to each other now and then. When we entered the subway, apparently there was some other foreign students who probably had been on a little field trip aswell. The trip was quite long and there were no free seats so we stood up the whole way. The subway, as I said, is supposed to be quiet and peaceful, until something shocking happened. A tall european students, out of no where, throws up on five local people. On their clothes, in their faces and bags. The girls who were affected had no idea what to say, because of the shock. This man, who just threw up his alcohol and a bit of food on five local people, didn't seem to think that he had done anything wrong and walked to the exit of the subway two meters away. Me and my friends stood there with our mouths open "What the fuck just happened?" Immediately we started to see if any of us had any tissues and so we gave them to the girls. The girls were still in shock just telling each other in korean"What, why, what..?". As a foreigner in a new country, I was so mad. I went up to him and said "Dude, maybe you should apologize!?". After a few bows and I'm-sorries, he thinks that he is forgiven and that everything is okay. He turned his back away from the girls, like nothing ever happened. I believe that these girls would have told him a lot of things, if they would have understood each other. I was boiling inside and I wanted to tell him a lot of stuff, but decided to let it be. 

That's why, I will tell you the things I want him to understand here instead, and I hope he will learn one day. 

If you are in a new country,  respect is something that is extremely important (well it is important wherever you are). If you are a white man, in an Asian country for example, you are representing all of us who are white or from Europe etc. After his disgusting behavior, and the way he acted after his stupid mistake, will make all the Koreans think that all europeans are that rude and disrespectful. That is not the picture I want the locals to have towards me when they see me in the subway for example. If you are feeling bad, take a plastic bag with you where you can throw up, instead of spurting everything in an innocent girls face. You could also put your fingers in the throat and do your thing before entering the subway. He didn't have balls enough to say sorry, before someone else had to tell him to do it. What kind of manners is that? If the same situation would have happened in let's say Europe, I think that this guy would have walked home with a black eye. 

This person and his behavior makes me want to throw up. So to end this story, that I felt like I had to share: Students, if you really like drinking, and you feel like throwing up in the subway, make sure that you throw up on yourselves instead of others or make sure to have something to throw up in. Remember, take it easy with the Soju!